Friday Box Office – HARRY Who? G-FORCE and THE UGLY TRUTH Top POTTER

At this time last year the box office was still being dominated by one blockbuster release – something to do with Batman, if I recall.  The summer of 2009 has had nothing like the single-title excitement of “The Dark Knight”, however, and already in the last weekend of July the studios are throwing multiple, genre-specific titles at the screen to see what sticks.  Disney has the  CGI hamster action of “G-Force” out in both Digital 3D and standard versions and – if Friday’s opening day numbers are any indication – “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” may have a hard time holding on to the top spot against the cunning rodents.   Sony’s “The Ugly Truth” is playing well to the romantic-comedy crowd while producer Joel Silver’s “Orphan” seems to be courting the under-served “kids without parents are creepy” demographic.  “Half-Blood” did manage to cross the $200 million mark on its tenth day out so check back tomorrow to see if that magic can overcome “G-Force” for the weekend title…